Gsm-Cdma Players Fight

In the midst of the controversy regarding the 2G spectrum scam, another debate has shaped up in the country’s telecom sector. A war of words over the issue of spectrum hoarding and efficient utilization has erupted between the incumbent GSM players and the dual technology (GSM and CDMA) players like Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices.

The controversy was triggered off when Ratan Tata alleged in a recent statement that incumbent GSM players were hoarding excess spectrum and called for a probe into out-of-turn allocation of spectrum to some of these players. Anil Ambani led Reliance Communications (RCOM) also came out in support of Tata's accusation.

This was followed by key GSM operators taking their turn in answering back. Vodafone Essar was the first to react. The company’s CEO and Managing Director, Marten Pieters, said that the allegations were baseless as the spectrum beyond the first chunk of 4.4 MHz, was allocated based on the number of subscribers the operator had. Vodafone further argued that a similar subscriber-linked approach had been followed for the allocation of CDMA spectrum too. Bharti Airtel also supported Vodafone’s statement.

This was not the first time CDMA players took a shot on the GSM incumbents. RCOM and TTSL have always maintained that GSM operators were given additional airwaves beyond the contracted limit of 6.2 MHz without payment of any market linked fee, thereby resulting in huge losses to the government. Moreover, four years ago, Ratan Tata had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the then communications minister Dayanidhi Maran, stating the spectrum allocation norms were discriminatory against the CDMA group and the Tatas in particular. He said the subscriber-based allocation norm was not the right methodology for giving out spectrum, essential to carry mobile signals.

The issue might have died down after this first round of allegations. However, the release of visitor location register (VLR) report by...